HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[colemonkee]

Love the double-helix design on the low-rise building!

[Urbannizer]

Houston's Jones Plaza to undergo a series of radical renovations

Houston First Corporation and city planners announced an ambitious project Tuesday to once again turn Jones Plaza into a destination and bring it further into the 21st century by redeveloping it with fundraising dollars.

Words like "underutilized" have been used to describe the plaza. There is a struggle for the large concrete outpost to be exciting, as design tastes have changed. Redesigning the plaza was a part of a 2015 Theater District Master Plan.

Astros team owner Jim Crane and his wife, Whitney, announced Tuesday that they are donating $1 million to efforts to revitalize the downtown plaza. Just blocks from Minute Maid Park, it could be a destination for Astros fans after games.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke of his support for the project. He obviously has high hopes for the 1.5 acres on the west end of downtown.

"I believe what Discovery Green has done for the east side of downtown with its great diversity of performances and public art, the redesign of Jones Plaza will do not only for the Theater District but for the west side of downtown. It will be a game changer," he said.

A projected budget of $25 million will turn it into a public green space. A $20 million fundraising campaign is underway. Rios Clementi Hale Studios has been picked to handle the redesign process. Expect more shade, more food options and a private event spaces that can be rented out for events.

"Rios Clementi Hale Studios is thrilled to work with the Houston First Corporation, the city of Houston, and Theater District stakeholders on the redesign of Jones Plaza. For us, this is a remarkable opportunity to bring together the two things — public open space and venues for the performing arts — which have been at the heart of our most rewarding work," said Nate Cormier in a statement.

Jones Plaza, located at 600 Louisiana in the Theater District, was constructed in 1966 alongside Jones Hall just to its west. It opened in 1967, built over a busy theater district parking garage. For about two decades it wasn't exactly a hot spot of activity. In the late 1980s and '90s the square-block plaza sprung to life. It was the place to be for free concerts and citywide parties. Then-Mayor Bob Lanier even threw a campaign bash there. These days, that role as a community area is more than likely filled by the family friendly Discovery Green and Market Square Park.

According to Houston First, the project will get underway in 2019 with an eye for a November 2020 debut for the public, hopefully in time for Thanksgiving festivities.

[DBGHouston]

What fantastic news. The current plaza is probably the most offensive eyesore in downtown Houston. Worse than a surface parking lot, this was on purpose. Voted best place to meet a vampire while trying to take a shortcut to the Angelika. Aesthetically? Cross between a port-o-potty and monorail station.

Before the Lanier administration bestowed us with this mess, the plaza was landscaped with some handsome trees. These didn't obstruct the facades of the Alley and Jones Hall. You could walk across the plaza. It was nothing special, but understated and inoffensive. Let's hope the new design does not make the same mistake of blocking views and pathways between theatres, restaurants and parking. The renovation of the Philip Johnson facade across the south side of the plaza is also exciting.

To be fair this was built before Discovery Green and can at least serve as a yardstick. The city has gotten much better at designing programmable public spaces. Glad to see this happening!

[Urbannizer]

Apartments, parking garage to soon rise on isle

Hammer time? If all goes as planned, crews in June will begin long-awaited work on a six-story parking garage and an apartment complex in a development that will save what remains of the historic Medical Arts Building and ease parking woes in the island’s downtown.

Negotiations and planning for the development have been long and complicated with "many moving parts," officials with Port Arthur-based development firm The ITEX Group said last week. The ITEX Group caused much buzz in September 2016 when it confirmed plans to build a 232-unit apartment complex at the site of the Medical Arts Building, 302 21st St. The ITEX Group earlier that year had finalized acquisition of the long-vacant building. The firm also confirmed at the time it was partnering with American National Insurance Co. to build the six-story parking garage.

Last week, Bobken Simonians, senior vice president of The ITEX Group, said the company was negotiating with equity investors to secure a loan. When that's finalized, construction could begin in June, he said.

The project will have three components — restoration of the historic building, new residential construction and parking. The historic building will contain 72 units. The remaining units will be in a newly constructed addition adjacent to the historical building.

Crews will begin work on the 72 units and the $10 million parking garage before moving on to the new apartment construction, Simonians said. The ITEX Group will build the parking garage with financing from American National, Simonians said. When construction is complete, The ITEX Group will turn the parking garage over to American National, Simonians said.

[The Best Forumer]

Love the design but it seems a little underwhelming... You'd think they'd make those buildings taller given the shortage of real estate in the TMC area.

[TexasBoi]

Originally Posted by The Best Forumer

Love the design but it seems a little underwhelming... You'd think they'd make those buildings taller given the shortage of real estate in the TMC area.

Are you talking about the building in the above picture? Because that's Galveston, not the TMC.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by TexasBoi

Are you talking about the building in the above picture? Because that's Galveston, not the TMC.

Sorry. I'm referring to the TMC project. The helix thing.

[DBGHouston]

Houston Billionaire Couple’s Record $70 Million Gift Will Help Transform Memorial Park
Chris Baldwin, Papercity April 25, 2018

https://www.papercitymag.com/culture.../?city=Houston

A Houston billionaire is putting some major green behind making the city a much greener place. Energy mogul Rich Kinder and his wife Nancy are offering up a whopping $70 million to the Memorial Park Conservancy in order to improve the most important green space in Houston.

The $70 million grant will be the largest single parks gift in the history of the Bayou City. (Accepting the grant still technically must be approved by the Houston City Council in a vote next week.) Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner revealed the gift during his Wednesday press briefing.

The money will go towards fast tacking the park master plan designed by the landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz, which was approved by the City Council three years ago.

image: Papercitymag.com courtesy Memorial Park Conservancy

https://www.papercitymag.com/wp-cont...1-1024x769.jpg

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by DBGHouston

Houston Billionaire Couple’s Record $70 Million Gift Will Help Transform Memorial Park
Chris Baldwin, Papercity April 25, 2018

https://www.papercitymag.com/culture.../?city=Houston






image: Papercitymag.com courtesy Memorial Park Conservancy

https://www.papercitymag.com/wp-cont...1-1024x769.jpg

That's a huge amount of money! Good for Houston!

[Urbannizer]

Downtown Houston’s Foremost Abandoned Building Now Listed for Sale

HE HOLIDAY-Inn-turned-Days-Inn-turned-Heaven-on-Earth-Hotel at 801 St. Joseph Pkwy. has now been posted to CoStar by commercial broker CBRE following a 2-week period of higher-than-usual on-site cleanup activity. Crews removed debris from its garage and pool late last week; and just yesterday, 2 workers scaled nearly all 31 stories of its western face to take down the semicircular light box of the Days Inn sign that once hung near the top of it (see photo above).

The seller, SFK Development, bought the property in 2012 — becoming the building’s third owner in its post-Maharishi era. (The building — which for a time was home to a Vedic school run by the former Beatles spiritual advisor — was shut down by the city in 1998.) Since then, it has been fertile ground for numerous urban explorers, as well as the imagination of several would-be redevelopers.

[The Best Forumer]

I guess that's good news.

[Urbannizer]

The River Oaks

Renovations nearly complete.


@twitter1

[Urbannizer]

Phase II to TEMA Development's Hermann Place is a 30-story residential high-rise.

[Wattleigh]

The Midtown

A view from the crane, c/o a friend of 'hindesky' on HAIF



Residences at La Colombe d'Or
c/o 'rechlin' on HAIF







Hanover River Oaks

c/o 'twitter1' on HAIF











Hanover Boulevard Place

c/o 'twitter1' on HAIF

[JManc]

The River Oaks looks amazing, they stayed true to its MCM roots while making it post-modern as well.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by JManc

The River Oaks looks amazing, they stayed true to its MCM roots while making it post-modern as well.

Well... it's not that bad... doesn't look too bad at all.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Phase II to TEMA Development's Hermann Place is a 30-story residential high-rise.

That's a far cry from the twisty tower before.... argh.

[Urbannizer]

The Herons Kingwood Marina

http://www.civiltecheng.com/projects-3/kingwood-marina

Major mixed-use development potentially proposed for Kingwood. SOM listed as the architect.

Kingwood Marina is a uniquely planned community, adjacent to the San Jacinto River, comprised of multiple sections including a Commercial District, Marina District, and a Residential District developed around a marina concept. The project consisted of surveying and engineering design for excavation, paving and grading, water mains, storm sewers, sanitary sewers, Marina excavation and amenity features, and street paving for a 308-acre development which includes 2,500 equivalent single family units comprised of multi-family, commercial, retail, hotel, and residential lots.

[JManc]

I live in Kingwood and not that far from where this would go...a flooded swampy area. This doesn't seem very realistic. At all...

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by The Best Forumer

That's a far cry from the twisty tower before.... argh.

It's not the same building.

The Helix Tower/Three Hermann would be located on the vacant parcel of land between the this one and the mid-rise at the corner of Hermann Drive & Jackson Street.